Willes: "Mad scientist' Dorazio set on creating O-line chemistry

BC Lions Offensive Line Coach Dan Dorazio, left and Dean Valli, right at the CFL team's training facility in Surrey Tuesday September 9, 2014.

Photograph by: Ric Ernst, Vancouver Sun

KAMLOOPS — Before stepping down from the big office, Wally Buono the general manager made a solemn promise to Wally Buono the head coach.

Somehow, someway, he was going to fix an offensive line which had been a problem area for the better part of two seasons.

To that end, GM Wally committed significant resources for coach Wally. He signed free agent tackle Levy Adcock, traded for veteran centre Tim O’Neill and invested the fifth pick in the college draft in guard Charles Vaillancourt, all while bringing back the estimable Dan Dorazio to coach the group.

The line has now been together for three weeks, and this much we know: Donald Trump wishes he could build a wall this big. As for the rest of it, stay tuned. This might not be the sexiest story to come out of training camp, but any chance the Lions have to restore their former glory is inexorably tied to an offensive line which, again, is in a state of flux.

“The amount of time is the unknown factor. I don’t know how long this group is going to take, but we will spend every waking moment working with them.”

You might think this is hyperbole. In Dorazio’s case, it’s a solemn promise.

The good news for the Lions is the new offensive line is bigger than the national debt. The five projected starters average 315 pounds each and are all at least 6-foot-6. The more sobering news is the right tackle, Adcock, is new to the team; the left tackle, Jovan Olafioye, is new to the position and Cody Husband will be starting his first season at centre.

Vaillancourt is also pressing incumbent Kirby Fabien for a starting job at guard, all of which means there might not be enough hours in a day for Dorazio to mould this group into a cohesive entity.

But now this. He’ll try.

“The mad scientist,” Olafioye said with a laugh.

“He’s the best and he fits right in. He’s getting us right.”

Olafioye, as it happens, might be the one reason this disjointed mass of humanity jells into a productive unit. Already in the conversation of the best lineman in the league, he reported to camp at a relatively svelte 315 pounds, down 10 from his normal playing weight, and has taken to his new assignment with a vengeance.

“I still go to the right side when we come out of the huddle,” the big man said. “I have to keep reminding myself it’s the left side now. But if everyone stays healthy, I think we can be dominant.”

Husband, meanwhile, has emerged as the surprise starter at centre after two injury-plagued seasons at guard. The Lions have struggled at that position since Angus Reid retired two years ago, and Husband, who was raised in New Westminster and went to UBC, is aware of the Lions’ rich tradition at his new position.

“I’m ready for it,” he said. “If it works out, you could be there for a while.”

“Two things,” Dorazio said of his 6-foot-7, 310-pound protegé.

“He’s got length and he’s sharp mentally. We want him to be like a coach on the field, and he’s getting there. Nothing rattles him on the field. You want a guy where the game’s not moving so damn fast they can’t see. He’s not not seeing ghosts and he’s not making ghosts up.”

Dorazio’s history with Buono goes back to 1998 in Calgary, and in his 12 years with the Lions, he helped build some fearsome fivesomes.

The ’06 champs featured import tackles Rob Murphy and Jason Jimenez with Canadian guards Sherko Haji-Rasouli and Kelly Bates and Reid at centre. The 2011 Grey Cup winners had imports Olafioye and Ben Archibald at tackle with Dean Valli, Jesse Newman and Jon Hameister-Ries at guard and the indestructible Reid at centre.

The current configuration — imports at the tackles, non-imports in the middle of the line — mirrors the ’06 and ’11 lines, but the larger point is when the Lions have had a superior offensive line, they’ve been in the championship hunt.

The problem is it’s been three years since the Lions could say that about either their line or their team.

“We are trying to get those five guys doing what those other groups have done,” says Dorazio. “There is a mission there and it’s there for all of us.”

BC Lions Offensive Line Coach Dan Dorazio, left and Dean Valli, right at the CFL team's training facility in Surrey Tuesday September 9, 2014.

Photograph by: Ric Ernst, Vancouver Sun

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